The game
by DannyDeeDanny
Summary: The game...T for now.
1. Chapter 1

It wasn't the same as the other encounters, it was different.

"7000 thousand shares aren't sold..."

_"It doesn't matter, the other had a net of 42%, makes no sense!"_

_-Drown.-_

"The market isn't ready for this company...you know this..."

_"You know the connections with FD financials...can't be touched by..."_

"I can't.."

_ "This...is why men rule the world."_

"I cannot..."

_"Why the fuck not? Will you ruin everything?_

"I will...I can't...invest against her..."

"_I pull out..."_

"I would never want another but her to do so..."

_"What?"_

"Nothing.."

_"Hmph."_

"The deal is off, I suppose!"

"_Fine."_

"Ara."

_"Fuck you."_

"Ara."


	2. Gabriel

The sound of Gabriel's horn blew across the would be impossible to miss as the last remnant of a once "American" staple screeched to a halt. It was a novelty now, not that special.

Women and men bustled about, paying no attention to the extra fare they paid. It was, after all, a novelty in the current times. It wasn't the train that blew through small towns and rustled spirits. It wasn't the train that carried the last products of society amidst an unsure world. No. It was just a novelty now, as novel as they come.

The steam blew from the train and took the consumers back to a time which they wished they belonged. It was a world that existed in books of required reading in high-school.

A woman walked across, cream colored pants matched a pea coat of the same color. Everything about her was striking. Gesturing the attendant to her, she held out a small withered map.

"Excuse me s-." clearing her throat. "Excuse me sir, can you tell me the route to this city?"

The young clerk stared at her in confusion and started into her red eyes.

"My lady, that city hasn't existed for nearly a thousand years." laughing nervously, he gently grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the tourist booth.

"My lady, I presume you will find all available cities in here." tipping his hat he strode off to a group of seeming tourists. The young woman looked in bewilderment at the sight before her, the wind blew her blonde hair away from a perfectly shaped face.

"How long have I been away Chris?"


	3. Whatever lady

It was strange, hailing a cab. The last time she had been in this location cabs had a horse somewhere in the mix. Now all that could be seen for miles was a blur of red and yellow. Light and darkness, created a feeling of being in a carnival.

There was no smell of food being cooked in the distance. There was no sense of life bustling about. Life was, and had become, an existence. Brown eyes, with a red hue, gazed up at the site before her in amazement.

The feeling would be fleeting however, she realized quickly at the sacrifice that had allowed it to mature. The memories came flooding back, unwillingly, pushing her farther than she ever wanted to go.

"It's beautiful..."

_hooooooonk_

A cab pulled up, pulling her out of any reverie.

"Shit."

Her mask put in place, she grabbed the handle and opened the door...peering at the driver who was sitting in the front.

"What're you in a daze or something? Where to lady?"

She sat down in the backseat and looked at the driver with a keen interest.

"I think...I'd like to sit here for awhile...I'll pay...let's just sit for a bit ne?"

The woman driver eyed her in the rearview mirror, green eyes narrowed and scrunched her brow as if she was deep in thought. Sighing she turned to look at the woman sitting in the back.

"Whatever lady, it's your money."


	4. Your name

Two women sat in a cab in silence, the older of the pair eyed her driver with curiosity, as the latter shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She noticed how the young woman seemed to become increasingly uncomfortable as the two waited, her rough hands started to tap the steering wheel without thought. Turning, her gaze fell upon the woman sitting in the backseat.

"This is boring."

pause.

"Are you?"

She sighed and looked out the window, completely ignoring the green eyes throwing daggers at her.

"What's your name?"

The huffy woman glanced in her rearview mirror, grasping the wheel with uncertainty. Looking again in the mirror she furrowed her brow and then looked again off someplace else.

"Kuga."

Yes, Kuga. That isn't a name. The woman already knew the name, but the tease of pretending not to know...that was the fun of it all, wasn't it?

"I see..."

The light haired woman shifted in her seat and rolled down the cab window.

"Your name is Natsuki Kuga, and mine is Shizuru Fujino...or at least it was."

Sticking her head out, she glanced at the sight before her and shuddered. It was a different city, it wasn't full of farmland...of anything really.

"I am hungry dear Nat-su-ki...and I need you to drive me to the best diner."


	5. Devil

Two women walked into the diner and sat near the window.

Weird.

A woman with brown hair at the roots and dyed in every other spot happily walked over and eyed the pair suspiciously.

"Hey Nat...um...what can I get you and..."

"Fujino..." the light haired woman answered, holding out a hand. "Shizuru."

"Mai.."

The two looked at each other for a moment and smiled a secret smile.

"Well Ms. Fujino, what might you want to eat?"

"Ah, well Ms. Mai...I will have Natsuki,"

Glancing up, the young cab driver frowned...following it with a cough.

"Ah, what! Mai?"

Giggling, the devil looked back at Mai with a wink and a smile that could form icicles on coal pits.

"What I meant was, I will have whatever Natsuki is having...are you O.K. Natsuki?"

The dark haired cabby was trying desperately to find something interesting on the menu. 'Please GOD...anything that's funny. Anything remotely sarcastic. PLEASE GOD...ANYTHING...but the burning in my cheeks. Anything that doesn't cause...ms...or is it Mrs... I think I don't like the last part...to be eyeing me...PLEASE GOD...'

"Ara...you remind me of someone..."

Shizuru stuck out a finger and poked a red cheek.

"Yes, you remind me of something...someone...I think I will keep you around a bit longer..."

Natsuki looked at the woman, examining her expression...her emotion.

"Shut up!"

"I don't remind you of anything. You're a damned playboy...girl...whatever. I have seen your types...you are slutty and I don't want anything to do with you...so go fuck yourself!"

Rising, Natsuki's eyes seemed a bit more misty than usual.

"Keep your...money...I don't want it or need it."

Spat.

"You or anyone else...and as for you Mai, I'm never coming back."

The silence in the room was deafening.

The devil only watched as the door slammed against.


	6. Know

The thoughts passed through, endless. Why did she seem so worried, what was it that worried her? It's easy. She sold her soul to the devil to save someone she was in love with.

That was several hundred years before.

Now the thoughts that passed through her mind were of a different beast.

Why did that strange girl walk out like she hated me?

_' Ara...I wonder.'_

The thoughts passed right through. They weren't clear or comprehensive, just there. She remembered everything, but it seemed a fuzz.

_'What do I remember?'_

A gunshot.

_'What else?'_

Crawling on the ground.

_'her.'_

She walked up, her cheeks were wet.

_'It was dark outside.'_

Kneeling down, and crying.

_'she was my best friend.'_

Pushing a piece of clothe next to the hole.

_'forgot everything, washed me of my sins.'_

Realizing that I was gone already. She told me she loved me.

_'that strange feeling, when life left my body...the feeling of warm kisses on my mouth...and temple.'_

Being lifted.

_'I wasn't really conscious but I remember her carrying me...I remember...brushing her cheek with my hand...and..."_

Darkness.

'-'

Natsuki sat alone in her apartment and scratched her head...then reached forward and scratched the head of a very loving puppy.

"Duran, what the hell is wrong with me!"

_ Whimper._

"Bark, grrrrdammit!"

Bark!

"Good boy."

The young woman got up from her place and walked over to her T.V. and turned it on.

"There's never anything on...is there boy?"

_Whimper._

"You're fucking worthless."

'-'

Shizuru sat in the cafe and tried to swallow the food that now seemed embarrassing, after Natsuki's outburst.

Mai came with a new pot of tea and sat down opposite of the mysterious woman. She grabbed a piece of bread and started to chew on it...realizing too late that she might choke to death.

_'cough'_

Turning, with her mouth to the door she coughed some more.

_'sh't ...cough...shft.'_

Shizuru jumped up as quickly as she'd stayed down and wrapped her arms around the redhead's midsection...with great force...she...

_"COUGH! WTFG Grabb...COUGH!"_

Letting go, she eyed the woman suspiciously.

"Ara."

Mai sat down and gained her wits for a few moments and looked at the woman opposite of her.

"Thanks."

The silence was deafening.

"So how do you and Natsuki know each other?"


	7. Write

They told me to write everyday. The advice is: you should write down every feeling, every inkling, every thought. Put it on paper. Type it on compute. Put it somewhere so hopefully someone will come around and think your awesome.

Sad thing is, most of my thoughts don't mean a damn. Most of mine mean even less than the lessors and the lessees that I read about in "Real Estate Finance", and what's up with those names anyway? Maybe if I sat here everyday and quit school, quit finance, quit the bullshit, quit life, quit supporting..I'd have a voice of reason. I don't think I can.

Maybe my voice would be the loudest. Maybe my voice is one that would love to live forever because I love everything. At work I am the cynic, everyone thinks so. They think I am a pessimist. I am. I am everything in between. I see only the reality. The bug crawled into a fan and got chopped up...I am not a cynic. I am only pointing out the event happened and is now gone, taking a life along with it.

I love rain. I love it most of all when the sun first pops up. It tries to seep through but instead creates a cloud. The rain is all I can hear when I step outside with my cup of coffee. Everyone stays inside when it rains. They forgot the days when muddy children rode their bikes until they crashed, the blood and dirt was something exclusive. A club really. It happens only once in life and then it's gone. No one is a member anymore. Everything is safe.

Children now play wii. They will never know the feeling of chasing their friend through a grassy wet field, crashing as their mouth grates against the dirt. Their chin is bleeding but they insist they are ok. It is terrible when mom and dad find out you were being a dumb kid. No one wants to sit on a couch for hours and listen to "when I was your age...".

They told me to write everyday. Everyone tells you to write everyday, but I know they don't hold themselves up to the same standards. I love counselors and bullshitters. I love psychologists who have spent their life creating conditions, when the only condition that ever existed was humanity.

They told me to write every day so I will. So I am. What is there to write about? I could write about the world, but it makes no difference. We are small ants upon an impossibly large mound.


End file.
